Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (3 page)

When his hand landed upon the fist I was
making in his bed sheet, I jerked my head up to look upon his face.

"I get to see my Isobel
again." His raspy sigh ended with a weak smile. Then, he was gone. Gone.
The grip of his hand loosened on my fist and slid to the mattress.

I buried my head in the softness of the
bed and cried.  I cried like the night I lost my parents—like a part of my soul
was stolen.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sat with Uncle Liam and Aunt Viola at
yet another family funeral. It felt like only yesterday that I was sitting in
this exact spot listening to the priest say the same heartfelt words about my
parents and listening to traditional Irish harps play behind us.

Now that Grandfather was gone I had some
large shoes to fill as the sole heir to the family’s multi-billion dollar
company. After the burial, the family gathered in Grandfather’s mansion. The
immediate family was requested to sit in the cold leather chairs of the library—a
room ironically never used by my grandfather—as the final requests of Aidan
Iverson Senior was read.

I sat once again between Liam and Viola.
Viola held on to my hand tightly. Mr. Devlin, the family attorney, stood at my
grandfather’s large mahogany desk with folders, papers and a small plastic case
in front of him.

"First of all, I would like to
express my deepest condolences for your loss," Devlin paused for a moment
before he continued. "Per the request of Mr. Iverson we have a DVD that
you are to watch after the will is read."

Mr. Devlin proceeded to establish
everyone’s share of the inheritance. Most were receiving monetary inheritance
or physical assets like property or cars. Liam and Viola were given a large sum
of money along with an island Grandfather bought for his first wife—Isobel. My
cousin, James Iverson, acquired a monetary inheritance as well.

Mr. Devlin turned, his eyes on me and
sighed.

"Your grandfather has made his
intentions for you, Aidan, very clear, However, before his death he made
changes to his last will and testament." Everyone in the room looked at
Aidan and then the whispers circled from one family member to the next. Devlin
cleared his throat. "You are the sole heir to your grandfather’s home, possessions,
AIS and a large monetary inheritance." He took a deep breath.
"However, your grandfather left certain
conditions
with your
inheritance." Mr. Devlin held out a DVD.

"I don’t understand." Staring
at the plastic case held out before me for a long moment, I hesitantly reached
out and took it. 

"You will need to watch the
DVD." Devlin stood, asking everyone, except me, to leave the room. Liam
and Viola stayed at my request.

At the large, old box shaped TV, I
placed the DVD inside the player sitting on top. Nerves swam in my stomach,
causing my finger to shake as I pressed play. Aidan Senior appeared before us.  Viola
sniffled as I sat between her and Liam to watch the video.

"Aidan, my boy, if you’re watching
this damn thing, then I’ve finally kicked the bucket!" His deep laughter
filled the room. Tears welled in my eyes.  I would never hear the bluntness of
his remarks or his laughter again.

"Well, by now that swindler Devlin
has told you about the inheritance and my
changes
."  Grandfather
smirked at the camera.  It was a smirk I knew too well. This look was reserved
for when he knew he’d won.  The knot in my stomach tightened.

 "Aidan, you know I favored you. Hell,
everyone knows it. Now, I will tell you why."

I straightened my spine. This wasn’t
what I was expecting from him.

"You, my boy, are the exact image
of your Grandmother, Isobel— love of my life, just as your father."

Liam stiffened at my side but I couldn’t
take my eyes from the television screen.

"Well, it’s as simple as
that." He chuckled again. "Know, my boy, that I loved you as a son
and have always wanted what was best for you." Then he sighed heavily.

"Now, on to the pressing
bullshit," Aidan Sr. put a glass of brown fluid to his mouth and took a
gulp. Knowing Grandfather, it was bourbon. "Aidan, you get the house, all
the possessions and the money to do with as you wish, as long as, within a year
from tomorrow, you are married."

Choking on my own saliva, I barely heard
Liam and Viola gasp next to me.

"Did he just say married?"
Glancing to Devlin, he simply silently nodded.

"Yes my boy…you have to get
married!" Jerking my head back to the screen, my grandfather laughed from
the television screen. Before I could say anything, he continued.

"You may have not listened to me
before, and continued to carry on with those harlots. Well, my son, now you
will have to pay attention to my wishes." He leaned in toward the camera
and smiled. "Now, for the rest."

"There’s more?" I groaned,
putting my head in my hands.

"AIS, ah yes. You are a shark, my
boy, and an excellent asset to the company. I have to say you’ve learned and
even taught well. However, you still lack one thing we all need in our
lives." Aidan Senior smiled and leaned back into the high back leather chair.
"You will inherit AIS, one hundred percent, after you’ve married and
conceived an heir to the Iverson family fortune within the first year of
marriage."

I baulked. Liam and Viola gasped, again.

"You have to be kidding me," Shouting,
I threw myself back into a chair.

"You will have temporary
custodianship of the company and money during the first year—along with the
board of directors. However, if you do not meet my
conditions
at the
given times, then the house and money will be dissolved and distributed. And
AIS will fall into the hands of the board." Aidan Senior’s face grew grave
and he raised his glass to the camera. After a long drink he slammed the glass
down and spoke again.

"Do me proud, my boy!" The
screen went blank.

Shock consumed me. Staring at the blank
screen, I didn’t know what to say, what to do. 
How could he put me, the
family, in this kind of position?  Did he realize that the family could lose
everything he had built?

"Um…Aidan, we need to go over a few
details." Devlin interrupted my moment of shock.  He headed back to the
mahogany desk.

"There’s more?" I asked,
incredulously, turning to look at Devlin.

"Well, it’s more just the fine details
to your grandfather’s conditions." Devlin looked over the top of a folder
he held in his hands. "You know that your grandfather was a stickler for
details." Devlin grinned.

"Yeah, I know." I growled.
Where sadness, worry and shock had knotted in my stomach, anger grew.

"Like grandson like
grandfather?" Devlin’s attempt at humor only helped to fuel the anger.

"Let’s get this over with," I
groaned. "Apparently, I’ll have to go out and propose to someone tonight."

Devlin began to read the specifics of my
conditions.

"Well, as you know, you need to be
married within a year from tomorrow." He looked up, meeting my eyes as I
rolled them. "Okay, well it must be a valid marriage. Meaning, it must be
equally joined into as well as consummated and monogamous. Infidelity will
immediately violate the terms." He cleared his throat.
"The…um…marriage has to last no less than four years."

For a moment I thought my eyes might pop
out of my head.

"Four years?" I shouted. Viola
placed her hand on my arm in an attempt to calm me.

Devlin cleared his throat again.

"The infidelity goes for both you
and your spouse." He took a deep breath. "Now, for the terms of the
child. Your heir should be conceived within the first year of marriage. Your
heir is to be a biological child, unless it is impossible, and must be given
the Iverson name." Devlin looked up, again.

"Is that it?" I grumbled.

He shook his head and I sighed.

"Living arrangements are as
follows: You will live in the same house with your spouse and child during the
four years of marriage and reside in the same bedroom for at least three nights
a week."

"Jesus Christ, did we want to
regulate how many times I am supposed to fuck her too? Did he pick her out
already?" My anger seething, I gripped the side of my chair to the point where
I thought I could snap it at any moment. I was ready to launch my fury on
Devlin.

"No, no, none of that," he breathed.
"I told you, your grandfather was all about the specifics."

"Yeah," I growled. "Is
that it? Can I go?"

"Aidan, if you have any questions then
now —"

"Oh, I don’t have any questions,
Devlin! It's pretty clear what a ridiculous arrangement he made." I shot
him a nasty glare.

"Aidan it’s not Devlin’s fault, so
control yourself," Viola spoke softly and rubbed my arm.

Standing abruptly, I left the room with
a slam of the large oak door behind me.

Chapter Three
First Date(s)
Aidan

"Holy shit! Are you kidding
me?" Dixon practically fell out of the old ratty recliner he loved.
Though, I wasn't sure if it was from shock or amusement. Either way, it annoyed
me.

"Yeah, I’m fucking joking."
With an exaggerated roll of my eyes, I put the beer bottle to my lips.

It hadn’t taken long for Oscar, James
and Dixon to start their
unfunny
jokes about my predicament. Everyone
had an opinion, a suggestion or a snarky comment. My family was desperate for
me to not fuck all their lives up, so that meant that everyone had someone
‘great’ they wanted me to meet and now even my friends were trying to
help
.

"Well I could set you up with a
friend of mine, she is single and she’s cute. She lives—"

"Look, I don’t even know what I am
going to do. Seriously, how am I going to make this work?" When I heard
James snort, I looked at him. "What?"

"Oh come on you big fucking baby!
So you have to get married, big fucking deal. It’s not hard to find someone who
will marry you, just go back through your little black book and pick your
favorite ex. Problem solved." He shrugged and took a drink of his beer.

"He has a point," Oz offered
up from the other side of me.

"So you don’t think that I should
attempt to find someone that I could actually stay with?" They all bursted
into hysterics. "What?"

"Did you just really try to put you
and a serious long term relationship in the same sentence?" Oz barked out
in laughter.

I punched his shoulder.

"Screw you," I growled.

"Oh come on, Aidan. We’ll help you
out. Let’s see, Oz help me with the ex girlfriend list." I was about to
object but then we heard the door of Dixon’s apartment. We all turned as Lilli
walked in.

She was in a pair of baggy jeans, a
large sweatshirt and her hair was in a high ponytail. She must have realized
that we were all looking at her ‘cause she slowed her pace and looked over to
us.

"Umm…hi," she waved "Just
ignore me, I’ll be out of the way in a second." She smiled, went to the
fridge and then disappeared down the hallway.

"She’s ridiculously hot."
James stared after her, leaning off the couch to look.

"Quit ogling my roommate
asshole!" Dixon threw a pillow at him and we all started laughing, even
James.

"Claire?" Oz shouted. We all
looked at him.

"What?" Dixon wore a perplexed
expression.

"You remember Claire don’t you,
Aidan? She was nice and she was a lot of fun." Oz nudged me and I nodded.

"Born again Christian," James
announced and took another sip of beer.

"What?" I asked.

"She got all religious and became a
born again Christian," he said again.

"How do you know that?" Oz
asked.

"Her father is on the board of
directors at AIS, idiot," he directed the derogatory comment toward me.
"You should really pay a little attention to the chicks you screw around
with." He chuckled.

"Okay, how about Leann, she was
always chasing after you in college" Dixon offered.

"Lesbian," I shook my head.

"And that’s a deal breaker?"
Dixon laughed.

"I have to have kids with her and
don’t think she wants the equipment I can offer," I snorted.

"Hmmm…" James sat thinking.
"What about that Amanda chick you actually went out with more than once?
What happened to her anyway?"

"She was a tad too shy," I
winked and he shook his head. "She’s married. I got an invitation to the
wedding a year or so ago." Sighing, I sat back in the couch.

"What about Channa?" James
beamed proudly.

"She was decent. Though, I wonder
how she will react to the conditions."

"You're going to tell them?"
Oz asked incredulously.

"Um...yeah. I think I have to so
they don’t think I'm insane for instant marriage and baby." I sat quiet
for a minute. "Oh God, I have to get married and have kids." Tipping
over onto my side on the couch, I felt no shame for whining.

"What’s the matter, feel like you
are getting up there in age, Aidan?" Sitting up quickly, Lilli's brows
teased me with the way she arched them over her eyes.

"Not exactly," I groaned. She
just laughed. James eyed her in her
work
clothes. I threw a pillow at
him. "Focus, James."

"I say we try Channa. I mean it’s
the only positive response you’ve given yet," shrugging as he spoke, his
eyes still on Lilli’s ass in tight jeans.

"Okay, hand me my phone." I
bumped Oscar’s arm.

"You’re going to do it over the
phone?" Dixon questioned.

"No, I need to see if she’ll meet
me though."

"I’m actually glad that I have work
today. I don’t think I want to hear anymore about what's going on with you
guys." Lilli laughed as she grabbed her bag from the kitchen counter.

"Later, Lilli," Dixon shouted
to her as she headed to the door.

"Peace out Homey!" she yelled
back.

Dixon cracked a large smile. "She’s
fucking crazy," Dixon laughed.

Oz nodded.

"Who says that?" James asked
with a furrowed brow.

"Lilli," Oz and Dixon said in
unison. James shook his head.

I moved off the couch and away from
their conversation, I could still hear them, though.

"Didn’t she just get home?"
James asked.

"Yeah, she was at the library
studying," Dixon took a sip of his beer. "Now she has to go to
work," I turned and caught Dixon’s expression. He looked unhappy for a
moment.

I hung up my phone and sat back down on
the couch.

"So?" James asked.

"I am going to meet her tonight at
that little café down the street from my apartment," I shrugged.

"That’s my boy!" James reached
over and fist bumped me.

"What if she turns you down?"
Dixon broke the feel good bubble that started to form.

"Who would turn me down?" I
joked and sat back on the couch.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

Evening arrived quickly and I found
myself getting nervous, waiting till the right moment to leave my place for the
small café. I didn’t want to show up too early, but I sure as hell didn’t want Channa
to get there before me.

After being seated, I was only waiting
for about five minutes when Channa arrived. I stood from the table as the hostess
brought her over and pulled her chair out.

"Aidan," she smiled.
"It’s been awhile, how are you?"

Channa was always a nice girl and I was
sure she hadn’t been happy when I broke the relationship short and never called
her again. I couldn’t help it, I tended to get bored quickly. Now, there was no
other option. This was it and my gut was churning.

"I’ve been good, busy with
work," I answered, giving a half smile.

“I’m so sorry, Aidan.” Channa’s eyes
dropped to the table.

Confusion washed over me.

"About your grandfather—I read he
passed away." She placed a hand on mine.

"Thank you," I gave a small smile.
"Um, Channa, I was wondering…are you seeing anyone?"

She looked a little taken back, pulling
her hand from mine.

"Uh, no. Why?"

Launching straight into my situation, I
watched her face go from finding it funny, to depressing and then what I was
afraid of—disgust.

"Aidan Iverson, you think you could
buy
me? That I'm just something you could use to get what you want,
again!" she tossed her drink in my face and stormed out.

I rose from my seat to go after her, but
couldn’t make my feet cooperate.  Slumping back into the chair, I grabbed the
white napkin and wiped the liquid from my face.  This was going to be a lot
harder than I expected.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Telling Oscar was embarrassing enough.
But James and Dixon’s wisecracks were pissing me off.  This time we met at my
place to discuss the demise of my social life.

"So who’s next?" Dixon wore a
big dimpled smile on his face. "This is getting fun. It’s like
dial-a-chick!"

"Shut up," I growled.

"Aww, poor wittle, Aidan."
Dixon teased, lounging back in the overstuffed chair. "You got rejected
from one of the girls you fucked and dumped. Who didn’t see that coming?"
He laughed, boisterously.

"Okay, so who else, Aidan?"
Oscar patted my shoulder. The couch shifted when he sat next to me.

"I don’t know," I sighed, pinching
the bridge of my nose. "This is pathetic."

"Yeah, we know," James
mumbled.

I glared at him.

"Okay what about Hannah? She was
hot." James wiggled his brow.

"Yeah and completely
annoying," I argued.

"Gina?" Oz threw out there
with a snicker.

"Are you fucking kidding me right
now? Please tell me you’re joking." I glared.

"Who’s Gina?" Dixon asked.

"She stalked me for almost a year
after one night together, proclaiming we were "meant to be"." I
rolled my eyes.

"Well, it sounds like stalker was
right, dude," Dixon laughed.

"No way. I’m not calling Gina, not
talking to her, not even letting her get wind of this." I got up for
another beer, needing a moment away.

"I say you at least try Hannah
then. What other option do you have, unless you want us to start fixing you up
on dates?" Oz wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh God…is that the only option left?"
Putting my head down to my kitchen counter, I grunted.

"I told you, I have a pretty cool
friend," Dixon threw out there again.

"I work with a woman that I could
fix you up with," Oz threw out there.

"Dude, you are so screwed!"
James laughed loudly.

"Thanks, James." I smacked him
in the head on the way back to the couch. "I appreciate the support and
apparently you don’t care too much about AIS, since our family will lose it to
the damn directors." I snarled.

He put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay, I’ll see if I can
figure something out. Want me to call one of my
friends
?" He grinned.

"No. Can we
try
for a decent
girl, please?" I shot back and he laughed me off.

"So that’s a ‘yes’ to being fixed
up, right?" Dixon wanted clarification. I sighed, nodding by acceptance of
blind dates. "You are going to love my friend. I just gotta convince her
to do this." He grinned around the beer bottle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colored lights swirled over the walls
and floor as I sat at Club, Inc., waiting for my blind date courtesy of Dixon.
It was only a couple hours after the club opened, so the crowd was still
sparse. Sitting with my eyes trained on the door, I sat nervously waiting.

"Expecting someone?" Lilli stood
smiling from behind the bar.

"You could say that." I gulped
my drink.

"What’s she look like? Maybe she’s
already here." She asked nicely as she scooped ice into a large glass
blender.

"I’m not quite sure."

"Are you on a blind date?" She
looked amused, a smirk creeping over her lips.

"Maybe," I scowled.
"Dixon—"

She burst into a fit of laughter.
"You let Dixon set you up? Of all the people…" Her body shook from
amusement, walking away to put the ice on the blender stand.

"Lilli!"

I spun on the bar stool, and watched a petite
woman run up to the bar. She almost threw herself over it.

She was attractive and super tiny. She
couldn’t be more than five foot two, if she was lucky, super thin with a really
short platinum pixie haircut. I bet she could easily work for Disney as a fairy
or something.

"Look what the cat dragged
in!" Lilli yelled back.

"Please, nothing drags me
anywhere," the tiny woman gave a fake insulted look.

They embraced over the bar. The way Lilli’s
ass was pushed out as she leaned across the bar, I couldn’t help but stare at it.

"I do the dragging" the tiny
girl responded and giggled.

Her giggle was almost musical. By
looking at her profile, I could tell her fine, delicate features matched the
rest of her tiny frame. A little tiny for my tastes, but she was pretty.

"So, what are you dragging in here
tonight, hooker?" Lilli slid off the bar and started pouring a drink
before placing it in front of the tiny girl.

"Dixon set me up with one of his
friends—" Lilli burst into laughter.

It took me a moment, but I realized this
was my date.